Friendship Fabric Festival

Today was the celebration of my dear friend, Grace, from Maine, joining me for a day of touring a couple of quilt shoppes that just happen to be about halfway between our homes. It was sort of a meet-cha-in-the-middle jaunt. The day was cool and showery perfect for shop hopping! We started at Kathie's Quilt Shoppe in Sanford, Maine.

Donna was on duty and she helped me pick out some nice Civil War shirtings from their fine collection.

Grace met me there and we got the moment captured by Donna. Thanks, Donna!

I'm gonna miss Grace so very much when she moves south to Maryland and I wanted to hug her now while I still can! But we'll be in touch with the internet.

Then we bopped on over to Marden's for some bargain remnants that looked quite nice.

Then we drove over the state line back into Rochester, New Hampshire for a tasty lunch at the Main Moon Chinese restaurant for their luncheon buffet and lots of quilty chatting about projects and workshops we've taken. Then we navigated Rochester's maze of one-way streets using Kelly's directions to find her Footprints Quilt Shoppe on Hanson Street.

Kelly's shoppe is small, but absolutely delightful!

Between the two quilt shoppes and the department store, I bought a ton of fabric and wanted even more. I'm so greedy, LOL!
When you look at the above picture of Grace, on the left, please do notice her beautiful patchwork bag, all in summery blues and yellows. Isn't it gorgeous? She made it herself of course!

We had a fine time and I promise to show you some of my pretty acquisitions tomorrow when the sun comes out for natural lighting.

Happy sewing!

Almost Heaven

Words do not do justice to a fair Spring day where the breezes are mild and the sun peeks out from big well-muscled clouds. Here are some views from around Park Hill Farm.

Last night I got Ellen Peters' help to work on quilting Baptist Fans on the third and final small scrappy Civil War log cabins. Here she is finishing the adjustments for a row that I will quilt.

Ellen is a wonderful quilting coach! Here I am when it was finished.

And these are rose nectarine trees in bloom, I hope we get some to harvest this year!

Happy Sewing!

Meeting Buddy

It has been almost three years since my beloved little lady lab named "Luau" died from an inoperable cancer after being our pet for 11 years. Raven and I both miss having a second dog. so when we were asked, in our capacity as Animal Control Officers, to provide a foster home for an abandoned lab/hound mix, we said yes.
So here is Buddy.

He is clean and kind and very high energy! Raven was pretty stand-offish at first but now seems to like playing fetch the tennis ball with him.

At a healthy 7 years, he runs old Raven ragged. Boy, howdy, does she ever sleep hard!

Buddy seems to fit right in when it comes to futon privileges.

He gets plenty of exercise and sleeps well, too!

Keeping this quilty, I never got the chance to tell you about my April 30th trip to Keepsake Quilting.

It was the last day of their "Show & Tell" promotion for 15% off regular prices if you brought something in to show. It was a beautiful Spring day and the place was deserted!

I chose 12 bolts of delicious Civil War shirtings in olde timey neutrals and asked for a quarter yard cut of each one. The clerk stacked all of them and made one cut across the 24 layers of cloth!
My show and tell was my Cappuchino log cabin and the gals loved it! Forgot to have them take my picture with it but here is one from my clothesline:

I was so very proud of my quilting on Ellen Peters' rented longarm machine!

These are the neutral Civil War shirtings:

I also got a couple of Rene Nanneman from the "Need a Lil' Love" line that I think is Andover, not sure. But I loved that cheddar one and bought all there was left on the bolt, about 2 1/2 yards.

Such fun!
Happy sewing!

Marvelous Marden's Department Store

The Sew & Sews filled two carpooled cars and drove for about an hour over the line into Sanford, Maine for our annual buying trip to Marden's Department store. We buy fabric with a 10% group discount over their already low prices.

Most of their quilting cottons range from $2.99 to $4.49 per yard. There are hardly any Civil War fabrics in stock, but I did find two of them! People loved my "Fabricaholics Anonymous" tee shirt.

That stack of bolts just behind me were all the fabrics that I chose. Here is Elizabeth of Marden's, swiftly cutting a half yard piece of each of those lovely creamy neutrals that I always crave!

There were aisles of each color!

We shopped and shopped.

Everybody loaded their carts with treasures.

By noon we were all checked out and hungry! We had a fine feast at The Backstreet Grill and enjoyed lively conversations.

It was a very well spent spring day!

Happy sewing!

Happy Mayday Everybody!

Oh joy! Oh rapture! There are daffy's open all around the flagpole even though they are hard to see in the photo.

They were only planted last fall so I hope that they will continue to thrive and will multiply.

Over by the drying yard beside my clothesline is the vinca minor, or myrtle, with it's cheery blue blooms.

And spring came to my line, too, with a finished small quilt of 38" square, done in scrappy Civil War log cabins and bound in paperbag brown broadcloth.

This is one of a series of three and it is the first one I have finished. It is center/light barnraising set 4 blocks by 4.

I quilted this myself with LOTS of help and coaching from Ellen Peters at the Cat's Whiskers Quilting Studio in Laconia, New Hampshire.

The pattern is Baptist Fans and we used "groovey boards" to trace out the design. I really like the wonkiness of the scraps!

Happy sewing!

Happy Monday!

Three lovely Spring days in a row have brought out my daffodils for this year and finally my header photo is not a blatant lie, LOL!

The Juanita variety, above, are the ones with the orange trumpets and seem a bit later than the Mount Hoods below.

Last year, Matthew helped me to plant a few King Alfreds in the rock garden for an early bright note.

During early Spring in New Hampshire, even the dandelions are welcome!

Not so welcome are the black flies that plague and bite all mammals, me included, ugh!

After finishing up the last few rounds of the 2" Cranston log cabin blocks, I laid them out on my made-up bed and decided on this pattern.

They are now all sewn together as a top. If you know a name for this arrangement, please do tell me!

Post script: Em has offered that this set is called Sunshine & Shadows . Thank you so very much, Em!

Happy sewing!

Quilt Show in Hudson, New Hampshire

Today's perfect Spring weather made the hour-long drive south to Hudson, New Hampshire, very enjoyable. The occasion was the Hannah Dustin Quilter's guild annual quilt show.

This show is just a tad smaller than my guild and it was  held at the Hudson Community Center.

This very large, 98.5" X 111.5 Civil War Tribute quilt was definitely a favorite of mine.

The colors were so mellow! Here is a detail:

Click on any photo for close ups.

I loved this little scrappy quilt! The different creams and tans in the background were scrappy, too.

Batiks with blacks were popular; here is a nice one:

The white fabric had a glittery iridescent finish and the quilting was done in a shimmery rainbow variegated thread.

These florals appealed to me greatly!

There were so many quilts that I liked! My passion for stars was indulged, too.

A second one, too!

I hope I have the right legend with the right quilt.

The fabrics were delicious!

Although I usually yawn during 1930's quilt reproductions, there were two that made me sit up and take notice.

Here is the second 1930's reproduction that I liked very much.

So many of the 1930's styles suffer from, "too-much-white-disease," yet these examples were nicely balanced and lively.

I also truly enjoyed a crazy quilt that had been foundation pieced, but I do not know if she meant paper foundations or muslin fabric. She said printed, so I suspect paper, don't you?

It had such a pleasant rhythm to the pattern and yet so much movement in its scrappiness.

The show had many more delightful quilts than I could possibly photograph and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Not the least important was meeting up with Cheryl Wentworth of the Seasoned Saltbox Quilt Shop, who is a friend and fabric vendor.

Ahhh, a fabric fix for my obsession. Yippee!
And some reds that are just more yummy than my camera would allow. And on the far left is the one piece of a very deep taupe that Cheryl gifted to me. I love it!

Thank you, Cheryl!

As I was about to leave the show, I stopped at a table where a Hannah Dustin Guild member was selling guild-made quilt blocks for $1.00 apiece. They were all friendship star blocks done with white-on-white or neutral backgrounds and would finish at 9".

What a delightful way to support this guild! I bought 12 blocks in a variety of colors and wondered all the way home how to set them to avoid that dreaded "too-much-white" look, LOL!

Happy sewing!